In a previous post I talked about the importance of mastering your hands in rowing. In this post I’ll talk about a drill I loved to do as both an athlete and coach that focuses on relaxing the hands and controlling the equipment by staying engaged yet loose.
I focus a lot on mastering the use of the hands in rowing because they are the single tactile point of contact to the boat and water. Unless you are rowing naked, which I wouldn’t advise doing. How we hold the handles, the feel of the grips, and understanding how little it actually takes to control the blades are key elements to master in your technical development. Working on technique involves drilling, experimenting, and play. It is a sport after all. For some other rowing drills check out one of my first posts on LinkedIn here.
The drill I’ll discuss in this post is called “the bob drill.” This drill helps you understand how and where to hold the handles in your hands as well as the amount of pressure needed to push them out of the water. The drill builds in complexity by forcing you to minimize your movements and keep a loose grip while staying balanced and moving from one part of the stroke to the next. Starting from a relatively stable position and then working your way out to less and less stable points in the recovery. The recovery is the test phase of the stroke cycle when your blades are out of the water.
To start the drill sit at the release/finish with your core engaged and your blades squared and buried. To engage your core think about bracing your abs and back muscles around a neutral spine. Neutral means not arched and not rounded. Push your feet lightly against the foot boards to engage your quads and glutes and feel a squeeze up through your lats. Keep your elbows up and wide with your hands resting on top of the handles. Your wrists should be flat and in line with your forearms and the pads at the base of your fingers should be resting lightly on top of the handles. Allow your fingers to relax and curl naturally around the front of the handles. Get comfortable and balanced. This is step one of the drill.
This first step is challenging for new rowers who have a hard time reacting to instability and who don’t quite understand how to connect their body to the boat. Unnecessary tension can lead to tipping side to side, wobbling, and handles moving up and down uncontrollably. I call this handle movement “playing the bongos.” It’s abrupt and erratic and the instability causes the rower to death grip in response. (Can’t we all relate to this somewhere in our lives?) The precariousness and grip tightening leads to more dramatic movements and more tension and so on in a vicious cycle. This is the point where you must teach yourself to actively relax. If you find yourself getting frustrated or tight take a break and reset every now and again. Remember we want to build good habits not ingrain bad ones.
This stationary part of the drill can help you gain awareness into how you, the equipment, and the water are one system that needs to work in harmony. The goal is to engage and relax and to feel your body on top of the boat on top of the water. Feel the subtle shifting of the handles against your palms as the blades move slightly in the water. You aren’t meant to freeze but rather to be loose, supported, and connected to the equipment and the water. This is a dynamic drill in which you are trying to bring those three things into harmony with your mind.
Once you’ve learned to create stability and cohesion at this initial point the next step is to add in bouncing of the blades in and out of the water. From this braced release position try to push the blades fully out of the water simultaneously with one or two inches or clearance on the surface of the water. Press down lightly with the tops of the palms with just enough weight from your hands to tip the blades up and out of the water. As soon as the bottom edge comes out let them drop right back in. Again the wrists should be flat and just the pads of the palms should be on top of the handles. No need to squeeze the handles at all. You can even point your fingers so that just your thumb is resting on the end of the handle to emphasize just how little hand tension is involved in bouncing the blades.
Start by doing one bob at a time. Then try to do several in a row. Work your way up to continuous bobbing. All the while maintain core support, breathing, and subtle movements to stay balanced. Pay attention to where you start to tense and try to let it go. Focus on your connection to the equipment and to the water. Hear the sound of the blades dropping back into the water with a crisp splash. What does it feel like? Sound like? Close your eyes and listen and feel.
As you get comfortable start to move the point at which you bob the blades further up the slide. If you are familiar with the progression or pick drill, the point is to work your way from the back end of the stroke out to the front end. Start at arms away then add the body over then start working your way up to quarter, half, and full slide. Bobbing and remaining engaged and balanced at each point.
A good goal is to be able to do this drill at full slide as this is the most precarious point of the stroke. Try to improve your relaxation, awareness, and understanding of your connection to the equipment and the water. Try to use as little force and muscle as possible to control the blades and keep yourself balanced. This is a great warm up drill or a great drill to do mid workout to bring you back to center and to help alleviate tension.
In the illustrious words of George Yeoman Pocock “Harmony, balance, and rhythm. They’re the three things that stay with you your whole life.” This is a great way to build those skills, add to your repertoire of technical drills, and increase your enjoyment of the sport.
I’d love to hear how this drill goes and if it’s helpful for you. Thanks for reading. And remember you are the master of your boat and life.
